Revealing the Truth!

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

My greatest fear in publishing Lee's Traveller each week is that someday I might post a notice about a dead classmate who really isn't dead. Next to that option, my next fear is to post something that is not true. And that is the mistake I made last week!

To highlight something relevant to a Valentine's Day story last week, I remembered the story about the Beauty Pagent that I had posted previously and searched my archives to find it ... which I did. I copied the previously published story and republished it. What I did not do was check the issue which followed the Beauty Pagent issue. In it I was informed I had made some mistakes in the story. The heart and program photos were not supplied to me by Rainer Klauss as it is mentioned. In the following week's issue (which I did not go back and review), I was informed that I had made a mistake and credited the wrong person in the story. It happened again this time. The truth was highlighted to me in a most gentle and friendly way in the following submitted comments.

Cherri Polly Faber-Massey, LHS ‘66, "I sent you the heart for the Sweetheart Pageant.   It was my number.  I believe I also sent the program.  I think the school song written by Mr Jenkins and Mr Foley was on the back that I also scanned for you.  I did not send the photos.   That must have been what Rainer sent to you."

So, not once but twice did I mistakenly give the credit to and wrongly identify my source - back then and last week! I am a dunce! I am not even sure who sent me the newspaper photos which accompanied the story. Looks like old age is catching up with me.

To correct my wrongdoing, I want to strongly apologize to Cherri and any others whom I might have offended or misidentified with what I presented. It was an oversight that I should have caught, but didn't. I will try very hard not to make the same mistake three times, but with old age creeping up on me, I cannot guarantee that, and so I apologize in advance if I once more prove to be a dunce. Cherri, will you sbe my Valentine?

Jim McBride: A Celebration of Life, Love and Song

By

Jim McBride Family

Mars Music Hall, Huntsville, AL

Thursday, Feb 19 from 5 pm to 8 pm CST

Overview

Join us for a night of remembrance to honor his spirit and lasting legacy.

This night will give friends, family, colleagues, and community members the opportunity to come together and share memories, reflect on Jim’s remarkable career, and celebrate a life defined by creativity, laughter, adventure, and lasting connections.

Limited catering, free parking and cash bar will be provided. 

 For additional information, please contact: 

Brent McBride or Wes McBride at 

mcbridesongs3@gmail.com

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jim-mcbride-a-celebration-of-life-love-and-song-tickets-1982077162148?aff=oddtdtcreator

Kamikaze!

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

This week I went back to my journal to see if any event that happened back in 1964 would make a good story today, and this is the entry I found.

An event on the day of  Wednesday, February 19, 1964, left a lasting impression on me. It involved the speaker at the church supper that night.  He spoke on Buddhism.  It was my first encounter with a Buddhist.  The speaker was not a Buddhist however; he was a converted Buddhist who was now a Presbyterian.  Our minister thought we could understand our own religion better if we studied other types.  I don't remember the topic of Buddhism as much as I remember the speaker.  There was one very lasting piece of information about him that survives to this day.  He was Japanese.  That is itself is not a unique trait for there are many Japanese people in this world.  The interesting thing was that at the end of the war, he was in flight training to be a pilot; a Kamikaze pilot.  He was about thirteen at the time.  He only had a few hours of flight time and was only scheduled to have a few more.

It didn't take a lot of training to teach a Kamikaze pilot how to fly.  You didn't really have to worry too much about his landings because the plane he would be flying didn't have a landing gear.  You only had to teach him how to take off, fly straight and level to a target, and how to fly the plane into a suicide dive into a ship.  What they really had to teach them was why they should want to do such a thing.  Wishio explained that it was not a thing that had to be taught.  He told us that night that he had been more than willing to die for his country.  It was an honor to die in such a fashion.  That was something that Americans have never understood.  American fighting men have always been willing to risk their lives for their country.  But for them, it was only a risk, a chance taken.  You had a chance of dying, but you tried with all your might to live.  To actually go into battle to die is not a part of the American idea.  That was what made the difference between "us" and "them" in so many wars.

On that evening, the speaker impressed me not with his ideas on religion, but on his personal involvement in World War II.  I had heard my father talk a little about the Americans at Omaha Beach.  I had gone to school with German-Americans whose fathers were on the other side of the beach.  But, I had never before met anyone who fought, or almost fought, for the Japanese.  I didn't know any Japanese.  I had never met anyone who was only a month away from climbing into an airplane for a planned one-way journey, or talked to anyone who was willing to die for his emperor.

Wishio had been spared his military career.  He survived the war.  On that night, the talk was not of war but of religion.  The religious theme was lost on me and the idea of Buddhism was still remote.  The idea of war, of being willing to die for your country and of military glory, made more of an impression.  The idea of such commitment would play a future part in my own life.  I was not destined to be in a Kamikaze plane, but as a crewmember in a B-52 Bomber, I would face a similar possibility.  I was aware that in the Cold War, my mission might be a one-way ticket. I still believed it was much better to live for my country than to die for it.

The Wayback Machine

"Universal Soldier"

Donovan

1965

"Universal Soldier" is a song written by singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. The first released recording was a single by The Highwaymen, released in September 1963. The song was also released on Sainte-Marie's debut album It's My Way!, released in April 1964. "Universal Soldier" was not an immediate popular hit at the time of its release, but it did garner attention within the contemporary folk music community. It became a hit in 1965 when Donovan covered it on his EP of the same name, also charting for Glen Campbell that same year. 

By 1965, the song had caught the attention of budding folk singer Donovan, who recorded it using a similar arrangement to Buffy Sainte-Marie's original recording. Donovan's US release of "Universal Soldier" also became a hit, charting higher than his previous single "Colours" and ultimately reaching No. 53 on the Billboard charts and No. 21 in Canada, co-charting with Glen Campbell's version.

I think I ate enough humble crow in my apology above, which is a true apology. It is sometimes hard to keep coming up with something interesting each week.

I hope to see some of you later this week when we remember Jim McBride. Sue and I currently have plans to attend.

Last Week's Questions, Answers, And Comments

Delores McBride Kilgore, LHS '66 , "Thank you."

Jimmy Bannister, LHS ‘66, "The 1966 Key Club Sweetheart Pageant, I don't remember who won but as a Key Club Officer, I got to escort Pam Wright who was in the court. Lee High School was blessed with a LOT of beautiful girls."

Diane Campbell, LHS ‘65, "Loved this picture!! I believe that it was 1965 because that is the only year that I Participated and there I am on the front row looking all skinny!"

Steve Cook, LHS '66 , "I hope you are doing well today. Thank you for all you do for publishing the weekly newspaper. I always look forward to it each week.

Like most of my fellow classmates, I didn’t watch Bad Bunny last night on the Super Bowl halftime game. Nothing against him as I did not know anything about the entertainer (good or bad) until the NFL announced he was the featured half-time performer. Never heard of him. What did stick out in my mind was the comment that was made that the American public had two months to learn Spanish because his performance would be in Spanish, no English. That hit me like a blast from the past when I was in the Spanish class at Lee. I was in the 10th grade.

As you know, two years of foreign language was a college requirement. I like many others took Spanish, one of the romance languages. For Spanish 1, I had Ms. Melba Halbrook. Ms. Halbrook was a tall young lady with black hair and a Southern accent from Mississippi. She was a new Spanish teacher at Lee. Teaching Spanish to high school teenagers was not really Ms. Halbrook greatest strength. Now she could speak and write Spanish but, in her class, we very seldom got to do that. Most of the class period was spent on current topics, both local and national topics. We did devote time to Spanish but not enough. We were assured that she would be back next year to teach us Spanish 2.

Well, next year came and no Ms. Halbrook but we got a new teacher - Ms. Gayle Foshee. Now Ms. Foshee was a short blonde who controlled her classroom much like General Patton controlled a battlefield. She entered the classroom on the first day and spoke in perfect Spanish several phrases addressing the class. Evidently, she had already had issues with previous classes understanding what she had said. You could have heard a pin drop as the room was completely silent! No one replied to her. Only very few seemed to understand what she had said. She repeated herself again. Only a very few out of the classroom raised their hand. She slammed her Spanish book on the desk very loud. She asked again…and this time she was not asking in a friendly voice.  

She began to lecture the class on Spanish customs and history and let us know very quickly that she had a very short time to get us to a level where she felt comfortable, we could successfully both speaking and understand the Spanish language. She had to teach two years of Spanish in one year. 

That was a very tough year on the class to learn Spanish on her accelerated schedule…Much like the two months that Bad Bunny gave the American public to learn Spanish…. The things you remember….